Serkis will direct the film as well as play the role of Baloo the bear along with Christian Bale as the panther Bagheera, Cate Blanchett as the voice of Kaa, Tom Hollander as the jackal Tabaqui, Peter Mullan as the wolf pack leader Akela, Naomi Harris as the female wolf Nisha, Eddie Marsan as her mate Vihaan, and Rohan Chand of Bad Words as the human boy Mowgli. Callie Kloves wrote the script, while her father, Steve Kloves (“Harry Potter” films), is producing.
The film will now arrive two years after Disney’s The Jungle Book (October 9, 2015), directed by Jon Favreau. In that version, Mowgli is played by newcomer Neel Sethi and Idris Elba, Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Nyong’o, Ben Kingsley, Christopher Walken and Giancarlo Esposito are providing the animal voices.
